Travelling concreting device

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a concreting device with a rotary column (16) pivotable on a chassis (10) about a vertical axis (14), a distribution mast (18) pivotable about a horizontal axis (20) on the rotary column (16) and having at least two extended pole arms (24, 24&#39;, 24&#34;, 24&#39;&#34;) which are movable relatively to one another, a distributor arm (26) articulated on the free end of the distribution mast (18) and a conveyor line (32, 32&#39;) for the concrete extending along the distribution mast (18) from the rotary column (16) to the distributor arm (26). In order to be able to use the concreting device even on low tunnel work sites, the distribution mast (18) consists of at least two longitudinally telescopic pole arms (24, 24&#39;, 24&#39;&#34;, while the distributor arm (26) is fitted on the distribution mast (18) to rotate about a transverse axis (30) perpendicular to the telescopic axis and about a longitudinal axis (28) perpendicular thereto. The conveyor line (32, 32&#39;), which is at least partly a flexible hose, can be automatically wound on a hose drum (38) fitted on the rotary column (16) and wound off it in accordance with the telescopic extension of the distribution mast (18).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a concreting device with a rotary columnrotatable about a vertical axis on a chassis, a distribution mastpivotal about a horizontal axis on the rotary column and has at leasttwo elongated mast arms which are movable relative to one another, adistributor arm hinged to the free end of the distribution mast, and aconveyor line for the concrete, which conveyor line extends from therotary column to the distributor arm along the distribution mast.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Concreting devices of this type are mainly designated for feedingconcrete into tunnel forms which have several closable feed openingsdistributed in a longitudinal direction and a circumferential directionof the path, which feed openings are loaded with concrete through theconcreting device by means of a mouth piece arranged at the end of thedistributor arm. In order to simplify and accelerate this operation, itis known to design the distribution mast as a two-arm or a three-armcollapsible mast, the mast sections of which can be aligned with oneanother in the extended position during operation and can be foldedagainst one another during transport. In order to be able to connect themouth piece of the conveyor line also to differently aligned feed pipesof the form, the distributor arm can be pivoted both about thetransverse axis and also about the longitudinal axis of the mast sectionoriented on the side of the end. By suitably arranging the operatingjoints and suitably dimensioning the mast sections, it is possible toutilize the concreting device also in relatively low ceiling tunnelstructures. However, the lower the unfolding height of the mastsections, the smaller is the reach of the distribution mast inlongitudinal direction of the path. Thus, there are limits regarding theoperating height, which in the case of the known concreting device witha collapsible mast lie at approximately 4 to 5 m.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Starting out from this, the basic purpose of the invention is to providea concreting device of the above-identified type which, in spite of arelatively long reach, can be utilized in low ceiling tunnel structures.

The solution of the invention is based on the thinking that with adistribution mast, which is exclusively assembled of mast sections,which can be telescopingly connected to one another, no unfolding andthus no additional unfolding height is needed, which limits the workabletunnel height in downward direction. Thus, it is suggested according tothe invention that the distribution mast consists of at least twolongitudinally telescopic mast arms, that the distributor arm isarranged pivotally about a transverse axis which is perpendicular withrespect to the telescopic axis, and a longitudinal axis which isperpendicular with respect to the transverse axis, on the distributionmast, and that the conveyor line is fastened to the end of thedistribution mast on the side of the distributor arm, and can be takenalong during the telescoping operation in accordance with the telescopicextension, and can thereby be automatically wound up and unwound and/orcan be retracted and extended and/or can be folded and unfolded.

A preferred embodiment of the invention provides that the conveyor line,which is at least partly designed as a flexible hose, can be woundautomatically onto a hose drum arranged on the rotary column and can beunwound from said drum in accordance with the telescopic extension ofthe distribution mast. The hose drum has advantageously a motor-driven,in particular hydraulic rotary drive acting in the winding-up direction.

It is also possible as an alternative thereto that the conveyor lineconsists of at least two longitudinally telescoped line sections whichcan be automatically retracted and extended during telescoping of thedistribution mast.

A further modification of the invention provides that a rigid pipeassembly is arranged between the telescopic mast arms, preferablybetween the ends of the first and the second mast arms, which ends donot face one another, which pipe assembly forms a part of the conveyorline, and has scissor-like foldable and unfoldable pipe elements.

The conveyor line has advantageously a pipe coupling at its end on theside of the distributor arm for connection to a concreting pipe or aconcreting window of a tunnel form. In order to as much as possible beable to reach all connection points in a form carriage from one fixedposition of the chassis outside of the form carriage, the distributionmast with its telescopic axis can be advantageously pivoted about thehorizontal axis of the rotary column between a position pointingapproximately 10° to 20° inclined downwardly and a position pointingapproximately vertically upwardly.

According to an advantageous further development of the invention, thedistributor arm is arranged on a work platform or work cabin which ishinged to the end of the last mast section on the side of thedistributor arm and is rotatable about a vertical axis. The conveyorline can there at its end on the side of the distributor arm be equippedwith a concrete-spraying nozzle preferably loaded with compressed air,with which nozzle, for example during the advancing of the tunnel,sprayed concrete can be applied for the temporary stabilizing of theinterior surface on the tunnel.

The concrete is advantageously supplied through a concrete pump and amaterial-feeding container which can both be arranged directly on thechassis.

To increase the reach of the distribution mast and of the distributorarm, it is also possible to assemble the distributor arm out of theleast two longitudinally telescopic arm sections.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter inconnection with some exemplary embodiments schematically illustrated inthe drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a travelling tunnel-concreting devicewith a telescopic distribution mast and a hose drum;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the concreting device in a tunnel with a formcarriage in two operating stages;

FIG. 3 is a front end view of the concreting device in various operatingpositions of the distributor arm;

FIG.4 is a side view of a concreting device with a work cabin and aconcrete-spraying nozzle in various operating positions;

FIG.5 is a side view of a concreting device with a four-arm telescopicmast and a hose assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The travelling concreting devices illustrated in the drawings have, forexample, a chassis 10 designed as a two-wheel trailer. It is basicallyalso possible to use in place of the two-wheel trailer other chassis,for example, a four-wheel trailer a self-driving chassis with a wheel orcaterpillar-like chassis or a truck chassis.

The chassis 10 has a rotary column 16 rotatable about a vertical axis 14on a stationary base 12, on which rotary column a distribution mast 18is pivotally supported about a horizontal axis 20 by means of ahydraulic cylinder 22. The distribution mast 18 is in the illustratedexemplary embodiments designed as a four-arm telescopic mast whichconsists of a main arm 24 and three telescopic arms 24', 24", 24'". Adistributor arm 26 exists at the free end of the last telescopic arm24'", which distributor arm is pivotal, for example, at ±30° about atransverse axis 30 extending perpendicular to the telescopic axis, andat about 360° about a longitudinal axis 28 extending perpendicular tosaid transverse axis. A concrete-conveying line 32, 32' extends alongthe distribution mast 18 and the distributor arm 26, whichconcrete-conveying line can be loaded with concrete through amaterial-feeding container 34 and a concrete pump 36. The conveyor line32 is in the case of FIGS. 1 to 4 designed as a flexible hose, which ispartially wound up on a hose dream 38 arranged on the rotary column 16.The conveyor line 32 is pulled off from or wound up onto the hose drum38 during telescoping of the telescopic arms 24', 24", 24'". The lattertakes place automatically through a hydraulic rotary drive (notillustrated in the drawing) engaging the hose drum 38 and assuring thatthe conveyor hose is under a constant tension so that it does not sag,bend or fold up between the individual layers when the telescopic arms24', 24", 24'" are retracted. The conveyor line 32 extends with its bentend section 32' over the distributor arm 26.

The conveyor line 32' terminates in the exemplary embodimentsillustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 5 in a mouth piece 40 connected to thefeed pipe 42 on a form carriage 46 arranged in the tunnel 44. As can beseen from FIGS. 2 and 3, it is possible to reach from the chassis 10positioned in the tunnel behind the form carriage 46 all feed pipes 42arranged in longitudinal and peripheral direction of the path of theform carriage 46 by pivoting the main arm 24 about the horizontal axis20, by operating the telescopic arms 24', 24", 24'" and by pivoting thedistributor arm 26 about the axes 28 and 30. As can be seen from FIG. 2,it is possible, in order to increase the extension capability, to inaddition telescopically extend also the distributor arm 26. Afterhardening of the concrete 50 filled into the closed-off mold cavity 48,the form carriage 46 is moved forward on its undercarriage 52 a ways inlongitudinal direction of its path with a periodic lifting of its formaway from the wall of the tunnel. The chassis 10 with the concretingdevice thereon is also subsequently moved into a new operating positionrelative to the form carriage 46.

The conveyor line 32 has, in the exemplary embodiment illustrated inFIG. 5, instead of a hose drum 38 with a wound-up conveyor hose, afoldable rigid pipe assembly 54 arranged between the telescopic arms24', 24", 24'" and which can be unfolded when being extended.

A work cabin 56 with an automatic level regulator is hinged to the endof the last telescopic arm 24'" in the exemplary embodiment illustratedin FIG. 4, which cabin can be rotated about a vertical axis. Atelescopic distributor arm 26', 26" is hinged to the work cabin, on thetelescopic arm 26" of which distributor arm is pivotally arranged apneumatic concrete sprayer 58 loaded with concrete through the conveyorline 32'. The concrete sprayer 58 is intended for the temporarystabilizing of the interior surface of the tunnel with fine concreteduring advancing of the tunnel construction. The telescopic distributionmast 18 permits here also for work to be done in a very small area atlow tunnel heights.

In conclusion the following is to be stated: The invention relates to aconcreting device with a rotary column 16 pivotal about a vertical axis14 on a chassis 10, a distribution mast 18 pivotal about a horizontalaxis on the rotary column 16, and having at least two elongated mastarms 24, 24', 24", 24'" movable relative to one another, a distributorarm 26 hinged to the free end of the distribution mast 18, and aconveyor line 32, 32' for concrete, which conveyor line extends from therotary column 16 to the distributor arm 26 along the distribution mast18. In order to be able to use the concreting device also in low tunnelconstruction sites, the distribution mast 18 consists of at least twomast arms 24, 24', 24", 24'" which can be extended in their longitudinaldirection, whereas the distributor arm 26 is arranged pivotally about atransverse axis 30 perpendicular with respect to the telescopic axis,and about a longitudinal axis 28 perpendicular thereto on thedistribution mast 18 The conveyor line 32, 32' which is designed atleast partly as a flexible hose, can be automatically wound onto a hosedrum 38 arranged on the rotary column 16 and can be automaticallyunwound from it in accordance with the telescopic extension of thedistribution mast 18.

I claim:
 1. In a concreting device including a chassis, a rotary columnand first support means for rotatably supporting said rotary column formovement about a vertical axis on said chassis, a distribution mast anda second support means for pivotally supporting said distribution mastfor movement about a horizontal axis on said rotary column, saiddistribution mast having a free end, a distributor arm and third supportmeans intermediate said free end and said distributor arm for pivotallysupporting said distributor arm for movement about a transverse axiswhich is perpendicular with respect to a longitudinal axis of saiddistribution mast, and about said longitudinal axis of said distributionmast which is perpendicular with respect to said transverse axis, aconveyor line for the concrete extending from said rotary column to saiddistributor arm along said distributor mast with an extension means formoving said conveyor line along with said distribution mast, theimprovement wherein said distribution mast has at least twolongitudinally telescopic mast arms which are movable relative to eachother, wherein said conveyor line includes a flexible hose, and whereina hose drum is rotatably mounted on said rotary column and has saidflexible hose wound thereon, said flexible hose being unwoundautomatically from said drum in response to a telescopic extension ofsaid distribution mast.
 2. The concreting device according to claim 1,wherein said hose drum has a motor-drive acting in a winding-updirection.
 3. The concreting device according to claim 2, wherein saidmotor-drive consists of a hydraulic rotary drive.
 4. The concretingdevice according to claim 1, wherein a work platform with an automaticlevel regulator and a fourth support means is provided for pivotallysupporting said work platform for movement about a transverse axis ofsaid distribution mast on a last of said at least two longitudinallytelescopic mast arms, and wherein a further telescopic distributor armand a fifth support means are provided for pivotally supporting saidfurther telescopic distributor arm on said work platform.
 5. Theconcreting device according to claim 4, wherein said work platform is awork cabin.
 6. The concreting device according to claim 1, wherein saidconveyor line has a pipe coupling piece at an end said distributor armfor connection to a feed pipe of a tunnel form.
 7. The concreting deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein said conveyor line has a concrete-sprayingnozzle at an end of said distributor arm.
 8. The concreting deviceaccording to claim 7, wherein said concrete-spraying nozzle is loadablewith compressed air.
 9. The concreting device according to claim 1,wherein a concrete pump, which is supplied with concrete through amaterial-feeding container, is arranged on said chassis.
 10. Theconcreting device according to claim 1, wherein said distributor armconsists of two longitudinally telescopic arm sections.
 11. Theconcreting device according to claim 1, wherein said distribution mastwith said telescopic mast arms can be vertically pivoted on said rotarycolumn between a position pointing approximately 10° to 20° downwardlyinclined and a position pointing generally vertically upwardly.